Emery Stephens

Praised by the Boston Phoenix for his singing "with ringing suavity and articulate intelligence," baritone Emery Stephens has sung with the Boston Art Song Society, Bridge Chamber Music Festival, Abridged Opera of Ontario, Wilmington Symphony, Arbor Opera Theater, Michigan Philharmonic, Ann Arbor Symphony, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera at Longy, Handel and Haydn Society, Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Detroit Jazz Festival in a revival of Dave Brubeck's The Gates of Justice with renowned jazz pianist Jason Moran and his trio, The Bandwagon. He has performed works by contemporary American composers, such as True Witness: A Civil Rights Cantata by Jodi Goble, The Passion of John Brown by Jesse Ayers, Paddle to the Sea by Andre Meyers, and Sweet Music in Harlem by Andy Kirschner. Dr. Stephens is a teaching artist for "Song of America" through the Hampsong Foundation. His past engagements include lecture performances at Carnegie Hall/Weill Music Institute, Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture sponsored by the Spokane Symphony. As a singing actor, he sang supporting roles in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo with conductor Andrew Parrott and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra at Harvard University. 

Dr. Stephens is co-founder of the "Singing Down the Barriers Project," which engages interdisciplinary dialogue on the diverse representation and performance of works by Black composers in the canon. He is also a voice teacher and enjoys teaching and inspiring students as a member of the music faculty at St. Olaf College.